Hinomisaki Shrine

Nestled in a pine forest near a cliff at the westernmost tip of the Shimane Peninsula, this is a shrine dedicated to two mythological deities with great spiritual power. It is also known as Misaki-san.

Misaki-san is revered as the ancestral deity of Izumo-taisha Shrine.
Twelve buildings, including the shrine pavilions, are designated as National Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

There are two shrines: the upper shrine is called “Kaminomiya” and the lower shrine is called “Hijimikomiya.

The Kami-no-Miya (upper shrine) used to be located on the hidden hill behind the present shrine, but was relocated to the present location by imperial order in 536 B.C. The lower shrine is called Hinomisaki-no-Miya, or Hinomisaki-Ojingu.

Nisshinmiya (the lower shrine) was originally located on the uninhabited island of Bunshima (now Sutra Island), about 100 meters off the coast in the Sea of Japan.
It is said that the shrine was first dedicated by divine decree when Amaterasu descended upon the island while Amazakine-no-Mikoto was on Bunshima.

In 948, the shrine was relocated to its present location by order of Emperor Murakami, and was founded under the general name of Kaminomiya (Shrine of God) and the name of Hinomisaki-Daijingu.

The origin of the name “Hinomizaki-no-miya” comes from the fact that the Ise Jingu Shrine was built to “protect the daytime of Hinomoto” while the Hinomisaki-no-miya Shrine was ordered by the emperor to “protect the nighttime of Hinomoto”.

Bunshima Island (now Sutra Island) is still the sacred territory of the Hinomisaki-jinja Shrine and is home to an outlying shrine, Sutra Island Shrine, which is forbidden to land except for priests and others involved in the annual Shinto ritual.
It is one of the few breeding grounds for petrels in Japan and is designated as a national natural monument. 

The Hinomisaki-Daijingu Shrine has long been revered by the Imperial Court, and since the Kamakura period (1185-1333), the shrine has also been revered by the shogunate, and the shrine buildings have been renovated.

Tadatada Horio, the first lord of the Matsuo clan in Izumo Province, granted the shrine an estate of over 780 koku, and the Tokugawa Shogunate also granted 600 koku to the shrine. It is regarded as the second largest shrine in the San’in region after Izumo-taisha.

Construction of the current shrine pavilions of Nisshinku and Kaminomiya began in 1634, just after the completion of Nikko Toshogu, and was completed in 1644 by Kyogoku Tadataka, lord of the Matsue domain, under the order of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun of the Edo shogunate. Both shrines are built in the Gongen-zukuri style, modeled after Nikko Toshogu.

Twelve shrine buildings, including Nisshinku Shrine, Kaminomiya Shrine, Tower Gate, Corridor, Misogisho Shrine, Treasure House, and Monkakujin Shrine, two torii gates, and five stone lanterns have been designated as National Important Cultural Properties.